Snake Eyes
(
1998)
"Believe Everything Except Your Eyes..."
Information
Directed by:
Brian De Palma
Written by: Brian De Palma &
David Koepp
Produced by: (you guessed it) Brian De Palma
Executive Producer:
Louis A. Stroller
Associate Producers:
Jeff Levine &
Chris Soldo
Cinematography by:
Stephen H. Burum
Genre: Action/Thriller/Mystery/Conspiracy
Running Time: 98 minutes.
Cast
Nicolas Cage - - Richard 'Rick'/'Ricky' Santoro
Gary Sinise - - Commander Kevin Dunne
John Heard - - Gilbert Powell
Carla Gugino - - Julia Costello
Stan Shaw - - Lincoln Tyler
Kevin Dunn - - Lou Logan
Michael Rispoli - - Jimmy George
Joel Fabiani - - Charles Kirkland
Luis Guzmán - - Cyrus
David Anthony Higgins - - Ned Campbell
Mike Starr - - Walt McGahn
Tamara Tunie - - Anthea
Chip Zien - - Mickey Alter
Plot
Ricky Santoro (Cage) is a rather
corrupt Atlantic City police officer who has his nose in everyone else's business. With dreams of public office in his head, he's taking in the heavyweight
boxing championship thinking of nothing else than roughing up some
bookies for the
cash they owe him, and trying to keep his
wife and his
mistress from interfering with each other (the
call-waiting cellphone conversations are hilarious). Suddenly, Rick becomes mixed up in the
assassination of the
Secretary of Defense who was attending the match, an assassination we find later that affects his best friend (Sinise), the man in charge of keeping the Secretary
safe. Becoming the investigating officer in the case, Rick soon uncovers a conspiracy to kill the Secretary involving a mysterious woman in
white (Gugino), a washed up
boxer (Shaw) and other
shady characters right up to the
top. The conspiracy grows to include
fraud,
prostitution,
murder, and
more. A corrupt cop is therefore forced to face his own
demons of
greed and
vice in order to bring those reponsible to
justice.
Analysis and Review
Well, this movie is probably best known for its amazing 12 minute opening
shot, which follows Cage through his dealings in Atlantic City.
Yes, 12 minutes, no
stops. The acting is great, and nothing beats watching Cage play the
sleazy corrupt cop standing in the middle of a crowd shouting "I
am the
KING!".. it's just classic Cage. Sinise plays the typical hard-nosed government military type, for a while, and does so with his usual master acting skills. The supporting cast plays their part, and the acting as a whole holds up quite enjoyably. The
premise moves along a bit raggedly, and the resolution of the conspiracy is a bit anti-climatic, but the ending is at least a bit
novel in terms of this type of movie. Basically I'd give it 4 out of 5
stars, one and a half
thumbs up, 3 7/8
Babylons and a strong suggestion to
rent this movie, but perhaps not
buy it.